Hungary to set up 200 million euros water development fund

Hungary is to launch a nearly 200 million euros fund for water management development, Hungarian President János Áder announced in his speech at the World Water Week in Stockholm on Wednesday.

The fund is to help the implementation of technological innovations, Áder said.

It will raise efficiency in infrastructure development by cutting the time for execution and boosting the return on investments, he said.

Commenting on a report of UN Water, Áder backed the body’s call to triple the annual funding for water investment of about 200 million dollars a year. The move would be necessary to stop the looming water crisis, he said. Áder noted that a new approach would also be needed “to incorporate the value of water into policy and financial decisions”.

“Prevention is much more important than damage control,” he said.

The president said that the most water-needy sector is agriculture and highlighted a Hungarian innovation which improves the soil’s water balance, reducing draught damage and pollution. He noted the Eindhoven biological water purification plant which was built in Dutch-Hungarian cooperation. Its investment and operational costs are about 25-30 percent smaller than those of an average plant, he said.

Budapest is to host the next Budapest Water Summit in October 2019, he noted.

This event will focus on preventing a water crisis by funding water management developments, he said.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI